Mini Miniature Show starts March 9, New Marigold Garden Lady in Presentation Box Kit

Active Show Link with over 100 dealers here http://aminiminiatureshow.weebly.com/index.html

Below you can see two of my brand new quarter scale kits. The upper one are Victorian Rose Curtains and the lower kit is a Victorian Rose Double bed kit. If you are interested in either of these kits of the original Victorian Rose Quarter Scale kits shown on the bottom please find them either on my web site, eBay or Etsy.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I have set up a small Easter scene in my Toy Store. I used to love making bunnies and tiny bunny scenes out of fimo. The girls, Mary and Sandra have been enjoy playing with the bunnies in the toy store instead of the Dollhouse they have been decorating for years. The girls and mother, I made from porcelain using commercial molds years ago. I'm hoping to take more photos of the toy store in the future. Barbara DeCruyenaire, who I used to enjoy seeing at the Vancouver mini show, sculpted the bunny in navy at the back with the baby bunnies in her skirt, I thought it was such a sweet idea.

Miniature Chinese Room, Making Tiny Chinese Dolls

Thought I would show you some photos of a simple Chinese room box I made years ago. I made a false back to add shelves and a window with an inset sunset, the sunset can be lit. I framed the windows with an old folding screen parts and put smaller folding screens on either side. When I first made it I had different figures on the shelves. When we went with out son's to China, John bought me a set of the tiny teapots for my Birthday (I actually lost my Birthday somehow during the fourteen hours it took us to get there, lol). I love the teapots very much because each was different and made of stoneware. I china painted and made the plates of porcelain and the bowl and plate on the table. While in China I also found the tiny mud figures. The large doll at the back my mom bought for me when she visited china, it is so delicate and sculpted. The lovely green turning on the table was by Rob Tukhum of RJT Miniatures The funiture is commercial but while we were in China we were fortunate to attend the Peking Opera and we sate in chairs and had a table exactly like these.

We also went to a cloisonne factory in China that was amazing, where I bought the tiny vase on the right front. The factory was so interesting, the kiln was built into the ground and a leaver brought everything up and down somehow. I also bought the two cloisonne pictures that were in a photo the blog about our bedroom from my March 24 blog. Couldn't resist a tiny cloisonne teapot too.

The little Chinese Dolls are some of the first miniatures I ever made to sell in the early 80's, can't believe it was that long ago. I put a covered wire through two beads and twisted the wire on top for the hair. Then I painted them with enamel paints. I arranged them on a button and added a bit of tiny white stones. They were really fun to make and there are so many things you can make with plain beads.

Fairies

I've been thinking a lot about fairies lately, probably because of the Spring flowers and gardening. Flowers often remind me of fairies. These are some tiny fairies and dragons I made of fimo a few years ago. I used to make porcelain, teacup and half scale fairies etc, really miss the fantasy.

I gave a Fairy Theater workshop, as partially shown in the girl's room, a couple of years ago and used ProSculpt for the tiny fairies. ProSculpt works really well and there to be a lot of great tutorials on line for larger fairies.
http://www.goddess-dreams.com/tutorials.html
http://blogs.ebay.ca/thelittleblueraven
http://magicalfairysooak.blogspot.com/

Oak Bay Farmhouse Girl's Room

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was fixing up my dollhouses and did a blog showing the bathroom in my Oak Bay dollhouse. Here is the room beside the bathroom which is the girl's bedroom. You can see the mother getting the baby, Flora, up and ready for the day, the older daughter, Rosie, is looking out the window to watch the birds in the trees.

I sculpted Rosie's face in porcelain and costumed her from a vintage photo. The lady and baby I poured using commercial molds, I attached the mother's hands to the baby and the babies limbs together at the greenware stage so the mother would be actually holding Flora. I also gave Flo a smile. I also made most of the other dolls, figurines and china painted plate.

The lovely doll in the basket was from a wonderful doll artist at a Chicago show one year and the porcelain sculpture of Jack and Jill on the shelf was by C. K. Uno. The lovely bed was made by Frank Preenie.

The books I've reproduced from my collection from the late 1800's and they are all filled with colored pictures the girls enjoy. Rosie loves fairies and being read fairy stories, so her mother made her a fairy theater on the left. Rosie loved helping to make the fairies. She also loves dolls and doll books. She enjoys drawing as best she can in her drawing book.

Since we made this house in the mid 80's the wallpaper has mellowed with age, I think I like it better now.

Miniaturists from Victoria B.C.

I have always loved living in Victoria B.C., especially because I have some wonderful friends here, who are very talented and interested in miniatures too!

Shirley Rose has made an entire town called Rosetown. She has made over seventeen stores and the most beautiful homes. You can see the shops under the Shops link. It is amazing, she designed all the buildings herself and has finished them with the most wonderful landscaping and interior details. There is a library, shops, artist studio, meat market, candy shop, just to name a few. As well as having Shirley for a friend, I had the good fortune, when I was a porcelain doll maker, to be commissioned by Shirley to make many of the dolls for her houses and stores. You can see many of my porcelain dolls in the photos above, she was always coming up with a challenge for me. She is always so excited and passionate about what she is working on and does amazing miniatures as you can see from her web site. I think you would love to see Rosetown and all her other
wonderful projects. Here is her web site.
http://members.shaw.ca/shirl.rose/index.htm

Another very talented miniaturist from Victoria is Lesley Shepherd, not only does she make amazing plants and kits, she is a botanist and designs gardens as well. You can visit her web site at Lesley's Garden. She is the guide of the Miniatures at About.com web site and also has an About blog. She designs terrific printables and always has some interest project on the go. Recently it was a tiny chick and woven Easter basket, so adorable.

Johannes Landman is also from Victoria, we used to be in a sketch group together and he is always so quick to share any tips about making minis and painting. If you haven't seen him at the big shows you might enjoy seeing his paintings. I have the good fortune of owning a couple of his miniature paintings and they have exquisite detail. You can see a description of his painting through the IGMA web site.